Charles M. Herzfeld

Charles M. Herzfeld (born June 29, 1925) is an American scientist and scientific manager, particularly for the US Government. He is best known for his time as Director of DARPA, during which, among other things, he personally took the decision to authorize the creation of the ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet.

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Herzfeld was born in Vienna, Austria; he is the nephew of Carl Ferdinand Herzfeld, the accomplished physical chemist (brother of his father, August). After the Nazi takeover of Austria, since they were Catholic Monarchists, he and his mother fled Austria, criss-crossing Europe and two years later emigrated to the United States; he became an American citizen in the late 1940s.[1]

One early experience at DARPA would leave a lasting impact on him: a lecture by the noted computer scientist J. C. R. Licklider, which converted him to Licklider's vision of computers as general information accessories; during his time at DARPA, Herzfeld would do much to set Licklider's vision on the road to achievement.

Herzfeld would stay at DARPA until 1967, directing the Ballistic Missile Defense Program from 1961 to 1963, then moving on to serve as Assistant Director from 1963 to 1965, and as Director from June, 1965 to March, 1967.

After leaving ARPA, he worked for a number of different companies, including the ITT Corporation (as Vice President and Director of Research and Technology) from 1967 to 1985, and as Vice Chairman of Aetna, Jacobs, and Ramo Technology Ventures, a high technology venture capital group, from 1985 until 1990.[4]

He was also a member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel (since its formation in 1970), the National Commission on Space (to which he was appointed in 1985), the Defense Science Board, the Defense Policy Board and the President's Information Advisory Council (PITAC) National Security Panel, among numerous other government advisory activities.[5]